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On the Road Again – August, 2017

Greetings and salutations, gentle readers! I know it’s been months since TCT posted; we’re just about to undertake our next travel adventure. We’ll be starting in a very familiar place and, after that, visiting some amazing places we’ve never been before. Added to which, we’ll be traveling like we’ve never done before.

Just about 24 hours from now, we’ll be arriving at JFK for an overnight flight to London, via British Airways. Once we’ve checked in, we’ll have the very good fortune to dine at the airport, courtesy of BA’s Concorde Room.

Entrance to the Concorde Room, JFK

Here’s a sample menu from the Concorde Room:

Then it’s off to the gate to board our 747 chariot which will transport us across the pond:

Because we’ll have already eaten, we’ll just climb under the covers and grab some zzzzzs.

Fortunately, we’ll get some “fuel” before landing at LHR:

One of our favorite ways to travel from LHR into Central London is to take the Heathrow Express. If you’re able to manage your own luggage, it’s a painless (and very economical) way to get there. And, best of all, it’s 15 minutes from the airport to Paddington Station. And then we’re just a short taxi ride from the station to our hotel.

The Heathrow Express – only 15 minutes from LHR to Central London!

This time, we’re back at the Shangri-La, atop the amazing Shard

The Shangri-La at the Shard is a stone’s throw from London Bridge

Guest rooms at the Shangri-La are spacious and have amazing views

While we’re in London, we’ll have having some new adventures, starting with London theatre. We’ll be checking out the following shows:

Visiting the Dulwich Picture Gallery to see “Sargent: The Watercolours”

Checking out the world-famous Selfridges – the real thing, not the TV series

Having a spot of lunch at Selfridges’ new dining venue, the Roof Deck

After spending the week in beautiful London, we’ll be heading back out to LHR and boarding a flight for Vienna – our 1st visit there.

Vienna: City of My Dreams

So, you may ask, why have we chosen Vienna? Besides the fact that it’s one of the world’s most beautiful cities, with amazing culture and culinary treasures, and an incredible history all its own, it’s the place where we’ll start our next adventure:

Crystal Mozart

Yes, we’re embarking on our first river cruise aboard the year-old Crystal Mozart. Although this boat is wider than just any other river boat (double width, in fact), it’s still a bit small by the standards to which we’ve become accustomed.

Our cabin is a “Penthouse with French Balcony” – actually, there is no balcony.

The Mozart is a 4-deck boat, accommodating about 150 passengers, and carrying about 90 crew. That’s a lot of crew for 150 passengers!

We were on the Mozart in April and just loved it. We’ve sailed on Crystal Symphony & Serenity and were also worried about the smaller size f the ship but it’s a totally different experience and we didn’t miss the extra space at all. The food is truly good on the Mozart – much better than the ocean ships which is really saying something – so much so that we wish we hadn’t dined at the Michelin included restaurant in Budapest and stayed on board! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Also just wondering after your experience on SB how it compared to Crystal?

Hey – Thanks for your very thorough comments! I’m encouraged by your excellent review of Mozart. I’ll keep you posted – we board her next Saturday for 11 days. Sounds like we may have a similar itinerary. Our “Michelin” experience will be at Ciel in Vienna. Although we love Crystal (and have been very loyal to the line for the past 12 years), its failure to deliver a new ship has caused us to look around at other options. Although we mostly prefer crossings, our Seabourn adventure on the brand new Encore was a very different cruise experience for us – Dubai to Athens over 19 days. The ship was beautiful, the service excellent and the food was outstanding. While onboard, we made a deposit on some future Seabourn cruise, to be determined at a later date. While nothing can replace Crystal at its best, it’s nice to try other sailing experiences once in awhile. Thanks again for your interest in TheCulturedTraveler